CHAPTER XIV.
Were this story a romance pure and simple, it would suffice to tell thatFraulein Fruzsinka had fire in her eyes, and Mr. Mathias but a heart ofwax, that, consequently, when they met, the one melted the other.
But since this history is, in the main, a true narrative, we do notthink it should be supposed that such was the case. Mathias Raby being adiplomatist as well as a philosopher, did not seek in the lady of hisdreams a Venus Anadyomene, but rather a fully equipped Minerva, and hethought that he had before him a high-minded woman, whose insightpenetrated the evil intentions of his enemies, and whose hands shouldserve to set him free from the snares their wickedness had woven aroundhim. To save such a woman from a degrading position was in itself surelya knightly and a noble deed. And what a splendid help would it not be tohim, in the struggle that lay before him, to choose such a companion,who could circumvent the designs of his enemies, and be to him aguardian angel as well as a helpmate.
So it came about that one day Mathias Raby sought out his uncle, Mr.Leanyfalvy, with this request.
"I have come, my dear uncle, to remind you of your promise. I need a'best man.'"
"A 'best man'? All right, my boy, I'm ready; let's have the horses putto."
"It won't be necessary; it is only at the other end of the city. It isto the prefecture I want to go."
"It's the Fruzsinka, then," exclaimed the old gentleman, and he began toscratch his head in deep perplexity. Finally, he blurted out, "Listen tome, my boy, take my advice and choose anyone else."
"Uncle, I forbid you to speak thus! She is my betrothed."
"I will not say anything against the woman of your choice. I will onlysay this: your father and mother were worthy God-fearing folk. If therehad been twenty commandments to keep instead of ten, they would haveobserved them all scrupulously. And they loved each other so dearly,that when your father died, your mother followed him the very next day.And so it can be said to your own credit, that you are neither amurderer nor a robber. Therefore, I want to know how it is that, sinceneither you nor your parents have ever committed mortal sin, such apunishment should be destined for you, as marrying Fraulein Fruzsinka?"
"Uncle, I forbid you----"
"If you only knew the woman she is!"
"I know quite well, she herself has told me all."
"All, has she, what sort of an 'all' is it?"
Mathias Raby shrugged his shoulders as one who does not understandgrammatical subtleties. "Oh, with women, the world is an everydaymatter."
"But these are not everyday matters."
"Well, I will hear no evil of her."
"May Heaven forgive me if I make a mistake! But what does it concern meafter all? Yet I found for you a nice, well-brought up girl to whom theother one cannot hold a candle! What are the black gipsy eyes of the onecompared to the innocent blue ones of the other? But if such a wifepleases you, there is nothing more to be said. Only you will have a wifeand no mistake, I'll warrant you!"
"Now, dear uncle, I beg of you to come and accompany me in my wooing."
Mr. Leanyfalvy began to see that he must play a part in this pantomimeafter all.
"I've no clothes to go in," he explained. "In these I could not entersuch grand company."
"I will bring you a new coat from Pesth."
"It's no use, nephew. Among such grand folks a simple gentleman like me,who am a mere nobody, has no business. Take the district commissionerwith you; he is a great man, and can write worshipful before his name."
"I don't want any great men. I'd rather have you!"
Now the postmaster came out with his true meaning.
"I don't want to be your 'best man!'" he said bluntly.
"You don't, and why not?"
"Because I am exceedingly angry, and I should quarrel with you. I amseriously vexed with you, not because you insist on marryingFruzsinka--you can be angry with yourself for that--but because you areleaving that sweet, pretty, innocent child, to eat her heart out indisappointment. I do not want to have anything more to do with you; youare nothing to me. Now go, and take your grand friend with you!"
"Very well, I won't take anyone. I'll go alone and ask for her myself."
Thereupon, Raby turned away and went. It would be indeed absurd that aman, in such a high position, who had been educated at the Theresianum,and was the trusted confidant of the Emperor himself, should let himselfbe dissuaded from his purpose by a simple unlearned rustic.
The contradiction only strengthened him in his determination.
And then--those glorious eyes!
* * * * *
Raby was one of those men who, once having set themselves an end inview, pursue it unflinchingly. He went straight away to the prefect,stated plainly his errand, and asked for the hand of his niece.
The prefect, however, pushed his cap back a little off his brows, anddemanded somewhat abruptly if his visitor understood Hungarian?
Raby was a little disconcerted by the question.
"Yes, I can speak Hungarian," he answered shortly.
"But, my friend, to speak Hungarian and to understand it are two verydifferent things, as we shall see directly. I ask you, what is it youwant? Do you want to take my niece Fruzsinka as your wife, or do youwish to be the husband of my niece Fruzsinka?"
"Surely that is one and the same thing," said the suitor.
"Not a bit of it; they are quite distinct. Let's put it plainly. Forinstance, you elect to be my niece's husband. In this case you come andlive here at the prefecture, and you get thrown in as a marriagesettlement, a coach and four, a coachman and lackey, and will have infact all the money you need. If you are tired of the chancery work inVienna, we can get you elected administrator of Visegrad, which posthappens to be vacant. You only need walk into it, or if you would preferto do so, you can easily keep your appointment at Court, and a deputywill look after the Visegrad affairs for you, perhaps better than youcould yourself. All you have to do is to spend the income, if you cometo live here. This is one alternative. The other is that you take myniece as your wife, and make your own little home for her, and the restis your concern, not mine. Now I have spoken plainly, do you understandme?"
"Perfectly, and I am also ready with my answer. I ask for no prefecture,no coach and four, no administratorship; I only ask for FrauleinFruzsinka, whom I love; I ask for the lady, not for the property."
"Well, go and have a talk with her. If she is agreeable to the proposal,I won't raise any objection."
Thereupon, he sent the wooer to Fraulein Fruzsinka, who had previouslysuggested to Raby that he should come on this particular day andformally propose for her hand.
"You come without a 'best man,'" said Fruzsinka, as Raby entered. "Youhave found no one who would undertake the office, that is it. Each ofthe friends you asked refused, and tried to set you against me?"
"I assure you, Fraulein, that there is no man living from whom I wouldlisten to the slightest word against you, not even my own father. I willtell you truthfully how the matter stands. I have one good old friend inthis world whom you know well, my uncle Leanyfalvy. I begged him to bearme company, but he refused solely, however, on this ground, that he hadalready chosen a bride for me, a playmate of my childhood, and had soset his heart on my having her, that he is angered at my making anotherchoice."
"And why not marry the playmate of your childhood?"
"That too will I tell you, and be as candid with you as you were withme. This girl is a dear, gentle, little creature, whose life it were ashame to link with my own stormy career. Why, I should have to transformmyself to marry her. If I were a man who simply swims with the stream,and troubles not as to what passes outside his own house, then could Iwoo such a bride indeed. But I am possessed by a demon of unrest thatwill let me have no peace; the misery of the people is constantly beforeme, urging me unceasingly to champion their cause against theiroppressors. Nothing shall stop my mouth from pleading their rights. Mylife will be a perpetual stru
ggle, I see that clearly. And can I fetterto such a destiny, a mere child whose only strength is her inexhaustiblepatience and gentleness? Every moment would it not be a torment to me,that each woe I drew down upon my head would fall likewise upon that ofa guiltless and innocent being with a hundredfold weight. No, Fraulein,when I reckoned up the obstacles to the career I had set before me, Idetermined to ask no woman to share it. Till fate threw me across yourpath, I had never thought of marriage. But at the first glance, I saidto myself, 'There is the complement of my own being; there is a womanwhose soul is consumed like mine with a restless consciousness of theworld's woes. No one can understand her as I do.' What shocks others inyou is just what attracts me. My destiny can only be shared by one whohas plenty of ambition and no dread of danger. If you are truly mine,give me your answer."
Fraulein Fruzsinka's only response was to throw herself on Raby's breastand take his face between her hands.
* * * * *
Three weeks later, the marriage ceremony took place. When the weddingwas over, the worthy prefect rubbed his hands and murmured, "Now thankHeaven, Mathias Raby has already the yoke round his neck. That issomething to be thankful for."